


Reprise

by lightsaroundyourvanity



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 06:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1847965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightsaroundyourvanity/pseuds/lightsaroundyourvanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thayet lay in Alanna's tent, her dark hair spilling over her shoulder, looking impossibly lovely, prying in intimate ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reprise

**Author's Note:**

> post SotL. written off of an anonymous tumblr prompt xo

The night after Thayet told Alanna that Jonathan had asked to marry her, they had lain in Alanna's tent, Thayet with her head in Alanna's lap, Alanna toying with Thayet's hair. Thayet's eyes were closed, and she looked content, dark lashes breaking over her creamy cheeks, her finely carved mouth tilted in a tiny smile. Running her hands through Thayet's hair felt soothing. Sometimes, Alanna really missed having longer hair. But it wouldn't be practical, she knew, especially here in the desert, where the heat would weigh it hot and heavy and the winds would whip it in her face during raids. Thayet didn't have much like that to worry about. She had put down her crossbow after Jonathan's coronation. Alanna wondered if it would be for good. Future queens, she knew, were not so welcome on the battlefield.

Thoughts of Thayet as queen made Alanna turn over Jonathan's proposal in her mind again, and a sudden thought made her snort with laughter.

Thayet's eyes immediately flew open. "What?"

"You thought--" Alanna was still laughing. "--You thought I would be angry that you'd _stolen my man_." 

Thayet's nose crinkled. "I was trying to be noble!" she protested.

"Noble!" That set Alanna off laughing again. "Like I've been planning to come back to Corus and throw myself into the king's arms." she twirled a piece of Thayet's hair around her index finger. "Gods. Married to Jonathan. What a mess that would have been."

"Thanks," Thayet said dryly.

Alanna tugged lightly on her hair. "With you, it will be different," she said. "You two are meant for each other."

"You've never thought about being with him again, like that?"

Alanna shrugged. Of course she had considered it. Jonathan had been her first love. And she would always love him. She would always be his champion. But they'd grown from passionate teenagers into adults who she knew could never really have a life together. She was too stubborn, and he was too haughty, and a million other things that would have added up to them making a hash of it. But all of that was too complicated to spill out to Thayet, so Alanna only said, "Not really."

Thayet lifted her head, and struggled onto her elbows. She craned her neck to look at Alanna, and lifted one eyebrow. "Really? Not even once? That night in the library?"

Alanna felt her cheeks flood with heat. Thayet _would_ bring that up. She remembered, of course. Before the coronation, when she and Thayet and Jonathan had swiped a bottle of good sherry from Myles and stumbled into one of the palace small libraries, giggling and reckless and drunk, and feeling for a flash in time like the twenty year olds they were, and not royalty and knights and refugees. Thayet and Jonathan had been flirting shamelessly all night, but somehow Alanna had found herself sandwiched between them, sitting in a row with their backs leaned up against the stacks as they passed the bottle up and down the line. When Thayet had leaned across Alanna to kiss Jonathan, Alanna made a muffled noise of protest, but Thayet had only giggled, and pushed Jonathan's head towards Alanna. Her hand was still tangled in his hair.

Kissing Jonathan was so familiar that Alanna was swept up in it automatically. Her lips parted, and she felt his, too, and then the tips of their tongues touched, for a flash of an instant before they both withdrew and Jonathan was pulling away. Thayet watched them, breathlessly, and then her hazel eyes met Alanna's violet, and her mouth was on Alanna's, full, soft, but hungry. Alanna had felt warmth surge through her, and she kissed back just as fiercely, pulled Thayet halfway into her lap.

Their tongues twisted together and their hands interlaced, endlessly. Thayet's eyes had been glassy when they'd finally broken apart. Jonathan cleared his throat.

They might have tumbled together then, the three of them. The air was certainly right. But someone had banged into the library, clumsy, or maybe just stinking drunk, and Alanna and Thayet sprang apart and Jonathan sat up straight.

They'd gone to bed soon after that, shuffled their feet the morning after and gracelessly avoided the subject until it had disappeared. 

But now Thayet lay in Alanna's tent, her dark hair spilling over her shoulder, looking impossibly lovely, prying in intimate ways.

Alanna looked at Thayet level. "It wasn't Jonathan I wanted that night."

Thayet didn't look away. The sweep of her eyelashes didn't flutter, the bow of her mouth didn't quiver. "I know," she admitted.

Alanna leaned forward. "Did you ever think--" she flinched, suddenly. Lost her nerve and felt her hands shake.

Thayet's lips were parted, drinking in Alanna's question. "Yes," she breathed.

There were inches between them. Alanna closed them, swiftly, and crushed her mouth to Thayet's. The taste of Thayet's lips was an echo to Alanna, faintly familiar and welcome. She opened her mouth and deepened the kiss, smoothed her hands up Thayet's bare arms and felt skin, smooth beneath her calloused fingertips. Thayet whimpered, a tiny, urgent sound in the back of her throat, and Alanna felt heat writhe in the pit of her belly. She pulled Thayet closer, and Thayet tangled a fist in Alanna's short hair. Their mouths parted and met, again and again, soft and wet and brilliant, and within a short, desperate space they were fumbling at each other's clothes, Thayet unlacing Alanna's shirt as Alanna tugged at the fastenings on Thayet's dress. Thayet's hand slid inside Alanna's shirt, and the feel of warm skin against her breast made Alanna draw up short.

"What?" Lust made Thayet's voice slurred and husky. "What is it?"

Alanna brushed a lock of hair behind Thayet's ear and pulled away. "Hold on a moment," she said. She crawled towards the entrance of the tent and tugged the flap firmly shut before turning back to Thayet. "Mithros help me, if someone walked in on me with you in my arms and interrupted us _again..._ "

Thayet spluttered with laughter. "Come here," she told Alanna. "And let's make good use of the privacy."

Alanna obliged; she fell back into Thayet's embrace and Thayet's kiss.

 


End file.
